Illusory
by Lynse
Summary: For Dani, deception and illusions are part of her trade—but only because she's pretending to be something she's not. Most people take her tricks at face value, but Dipper and Mabel Pines aren't most people. One-shot.


A/N: Written for Phanniemay 2018 so originally posted on tumblr. Post- _D-Stabilized_ for Dani and post-series for Dipper and Mabel. Standard disclaimers apply. Enjoy!

* * *

Dani smoothed down the edge of her blue blanket, set down her beanie containing her last few quarters at her feet, and then stood to wait for someone to walk by her little corner of the park. She didn't accumulate very many belongings—hard to, when you moved as often as she did—but she'd taken to wrapping the few she had in this blanket. It was something that was truly hers, a kind gift from a stranger a few weeks ago. She couldn't remember where she'd been then. Montana, maybe? Minnesota? It didn't matter. It was _hers_ , and she wasn't about to relinquish it. It kept her warm, acted as a sack while she travelled, and made a decent stage.

Like now.

Dani was still relatively new at performing—she'd only really been at this for a few weeks—but she was an old hat when it came to doing tricks and fooling people.

She didn't like stealing. She still did it, but she didn't want to have to be so reliant on it. If she was going to survive on her own, she had to be able to do something to provide for herself. Danny had given her a second chance when he'd stabilized her; she wasn't going to squander that.

(She also didn't want to leave the country for the next little while, on the off chance that Danny's fix didn't last, but as far as she could tell, the Ecto-Dejecto was still working and Vlad wasn't hunting her down.)

The only people in sight were a group of four teens coming down the walkway, another teenaged boy reading on a bench on the next path, and, farther away, a woman walking with a small child. Teenagers weren't the ideal audience—they never had much money to give away, if any—but Dani called out to the group anyway. "Hey, wanna see some magic?"

One of the girls in the group shot Dani an annoyed look before returning to the conversation, but one of her friends looked mildly interested and began to slow her walk.

That was better than being ignored entirely, and it meant there was hope. "I don't have a deck of cards on me, but I can make a coin disappear," she continued.

"I'll bet you can," one of the boys yelled, to the laughter of most of the group. They came to a stop about ten feet from her.

Dani rolled her eyes. "It doesn't have to be a coin."

"Sure. Just something small enough for you to palm!"

Banter. Excellent. She'd hooked them, and more easily than she'd been anticipating. "I can do your baseball cap if you want. That's too big to hide, isn't it?"

"Let's see what she can do," said the girl whose interest Dani had first noted. She bounded towards Dani, leaving the others to trail in her wake. She smiled brightly. "Will an earring work?"

Dani grinned. "Of course." She accepted one of the girl's large, star-shaped earrings, and held it up for the group to see. "Magic isn't about the object," she said, bringing her hands together and turning the earring invisible. "It's rooted in belief." She opened her apparently empty hands, waving them under the noses of the four teens in front of her. "If you stop being skeptical long enough to believe it can happen—" now she moved toward the boy who'd been taunting her "—you might actually get to see it." She reached up and—as far as anyone else could tell—pulled the earring from behind his ear. "See?"

The other boy let out a low whistle, and girl who'd first glared at her now gaped in astonishment. "How the heck did you do that?"

Dani laughed. "Magic," she said, handing the earring back to its rightful owner.

"You had it in your hands," the boy with the hat accused.

Dani just shrugged. "Believe that if you must."

He frowned at her, glanced down at the few coins in her cap, and then ripped his own off his head. "Make this vanish," he said, "and I'll give you five bucks."

Dani took it with exaggerated solemnity. "Are you afraid you'll miss it if you blink?" she asked, holding the hat in one hand and moving the other above and around it in a circular motion purely for the sake of show. "It's not merely a matter of what I do, you know. It's a matter of what you want to happen."

The boy was frowning at her.

She held out the hat again. "Do you really want this to disappear?" she asked. "Will that convince you? Or do you want to see something a little more tangible? Or should I say _intangible_?"

"What are you trying to pull?" he asked.

She nodded at the hat. "Take it from me."

"You didn't make it disappear," he said. "You willing to give up on five bucks so easily? You shouldn't even be doing this."

She cocked her head. "Are you sure about that?"

He grumbled something unsavoury and swiped at his hat.

It took all of her self-control not to laugh in his face when his hand passed right through what he'd thought was solid fabric.

"What the hell?" He tried to grab it again, but his hand closed on air. "This isn't— What the hell did you do?"

"Magic." Still holding the cap, she put her hands behind her back, bowed, and then tossed the cap back to the boy. He fumbled but caught it. "Satisfied?"

His mouth worked, but he couldn't find an answer.

"That was wicked," said the other boy, pulling a handful of coins out of his pocket and tossing them all into her hat. "You're really good."

"I still can't believe I saw that," said the first girl.

"Where did you learn that?" asked the second. She'd already put her earring back on.

"Here and there," Dani replied noncommittally. "I've been travelling a long time."

"Would you be willing to show your magic to my brother? I don't have money on me, but he does." The girl smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Mabel."

Dani shook it and introduced herself before agreeing to go, figuring she could take care of herself if things looked like they were going to go south. The loud boy was still grumbling about how it all had to be a trick, but the other two teens were playfully teasing him now. Mabel waved them on and helped Dani gather her things.

After carefully pocketing her earnings and wrapping everything else up in a bundle to be slung over her shoulder, Dani said, "Lead on."

Mabel's brother turned out to be the kid who was reading on the park bench. It was a thick book, big and old with a fancy cover, and looked utterly out of place in the boy's hands. In Vlad's library? Sure. A castle? Probably. A kid's backpack? Not so much.

"Hey, bro-bro," chirped Mabel as they came up to him, "this is Dani. Dani, meet Dipper."

The boy stared at her, frowning.

Dani raised her free hand in a sort of half wave. "Um…hi?"

Almost immediately, the boy—Dipper—looked sheepish. "Sorry," he said, slipping in a bookmark before closing the giant tome and offering a hand. Dani shook it. "I just…wasn't expecting Mabel to bring company." He shot her a look that clearly begged for further clarification.

"Dani has magic," Mabel said, rocking back and forth on her heels. "I thought you'd want to see it."

"Magic?" repeated Dipper. He didn't sound skeptical or overly enthusiastic. Instead, he sounded wary. She'd gotten her fair share of cautious belief before, but straight up wariness was new.

"I've picked up a few tricks here and there," Dani said, setting her bundle on the far end of the bench. She pulled a coin from her pocket, rolling it between her fingers. She'd practiced this move enough that, even when she accidentally dropped it, she was usually quick at catching it with her other hand and pretending she'd meant to do that. "Most people think of magic as sleight of hand or optical illusion, but I try to push past that. What I do isn't deception, and it's not illusory. It's real."

Dipper glanced at Mabel again, and Dani took the opportunity to turn the coin invisible. She wasn't lying, really. She didn't know how real magicians did their stuff, but if using her powers meant she could get enough money together for a decent meal, she had no qualms about using them. She wasn't in a competition, so it wasn't cheating, and if it was fooling people, well, they _liked_ being hoodwinked. It's not like what Vlad had done with his powers to amass his fortune.

Dipper and Mabel watched closely as Dani ran through a basic routine she'd developed. Mabel would laugh and clap, but her brother's brow furrowed as Dani continued. "That really isn't an illusion," he said finally, after Dani had phased a mint from Mabel through her cheek and into her mouth.

Dani bit down on the mint with a satisfying crunch. "That's what I said when I started."

"No, I mean…. You're actually using _magic_."

Which was also what she'd said, more or less. She settled on a smirk. "You expected something else from a magician?"

Dipper shook his head. "No, you're not— I mean, you're not a magician like _most_ people think of a magician. You're more like a sorcerer, aren't you?"

Dani raised an eyebrow. "I guess if you want to call me that, that's fine."

Mabel put a hand on her shoulder. "I can translate. He means you're not a hack. Which is why I told him you had _magic_ and not did magic _tricks_ , because there's a big difference. And we've learned to spot that even when other people can't."

Suddenly, Dani was feeling a lot less comfortable. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"This isn't our first brush with magic," said Dipper, "so I know enough to ask: how did you get yours?"

Dani stared at him.

"Did someone teach you? Did you study spells in a book? Or make a deal with a demon? Or a different magical creature?"

These guys were nuts. A little bit of extra cash wasn't worth this. Dani took a step back. "Um, yeah, consider this show on the house. I'm gonna split—"

Dipper reached out and grabbed her arm before she could go any farther. "No, please, this is important! You can tell us the truth. I know how easy it is to make a bad deal with a demon—"

The only demons that were real were the nightmares that haunted her past. Dani phased her arm through his grip. "Sorry." If this was a prank of some sort, these two were taking things _way_ too far. And if it wasn't, they were crazier than Vlad. She didn't want to stick around to find out what it was anymore.

Neither Dipper nor Mabel tried to stop her as she spun around, grabbed her blanket-turned-bag, and bolted.

* * *

"She's comfortable with her magic," Mabel pointed out as she and Dipper started a long loop around the park. They didn't expect to run into Dani, but it was best to be thorough and make sure she wasn't hiding right under their noses. "She's experienced, and she's not afraid of what she can do."

"So you don't think she made a deal? Even unwittingly?"

Mabel sighed. "I dunno, Dipper. I know why you think she did—it looks like it gave her a way to survive on the streets—but if some demon out there is playing a long game with her, she doesn't realize what she bargained away when she made her deal."

"Does anybody?" Dipper's tone betrayed a trace of bitterness, a small bit of anger he still harboured at himself for falling for Bill Cipher's tricks. He was very careful not to let those emotions overwhelm him, she knew. Bill was gone from this plane, for now, but could stone trap a demon forever?

Dipper's question was rhetorical, but Mabel answered anyway. "Sometimes," she whispered, remembering what she had done. "Sometimes, even when you know, it still seems like the best thing to do."

Silence fell, but it was a comfortable one. The group of friends Mabel had come with were long gone, but they were used to her breaking away from them to find Dipper. They thought of him as a lone wolf; they hadn't bothered to try to learn the truth, and she'd stopped trying to get them to see things her way. Or his way. They didn't understand, but sometimes, Mabel liked them better for that.

It was nice to take a step back from all the weirdness sometimes and just enjoy life as a teenager.

Dipper was too serious, thinking their adventure last summer was more of a beginning than an end. That's why he kept watch for any sign of something shifting in a world of which most people were ignorant, and when he found someone who must know something of it, like Dani, he wanted as much information as he could get.

"She's experienced," Dipper finally repeated, going back to Mabel's earlier point. "So, if it was a deal, it probably happened years ago. If it's not, she might've been taught from a young age, but then why would she be on her own?"

"She might not really be on her own," pointed out Mabel. "That part could be the show. Maybe she's gathering information on all of us and reporting back to someone." Dipper's stricken face told her he hadn't thought of that, and she laughed. "I'm _kidding_ , bro-bro. You saw how tired she looked, even considering how expertly she was hiding it. I don't think she's had a good night's sleep in a while."

"So maybe she was taught and forced out because of some disaster."

"Or because someone was afraid of her skill."

"Or maybe she did make a deal, just a really long time ago, like I said."

Mabel rolled her eyes, but she could concede Dipper's point. She'd used stickers to make some basic protective sigils on the backs of her favourite star earrings, and Dani hadn't appeared to notice when she'd used one for her tricks. Moreover, she'd shown no sign of recognition upon seeing Dipper's book. If she was trained in the magical arts, it couldn't have been very formally. But if she wasn't trained….

"Maybe she was just born with these powers," mused Mabel. "Maybe she's, I dunno, part sprite or pixie."

Dipper snorted.

"Naiad, then. Her eyes were really blue."

"That's a stretch, Mabel, even for you."

"It would explain why she appears to be on her own and so comfortable with her magic. And why she thinks we're crazy for talking about demons. You saw how she looked at us. If she doesn't know her heritage—"

Dipper stopped abruptly. "What if that's it?"

Mabel frowned. "What if what's it?"

"What if she _was_ born with these powers? And she _doesn't_ know her heritage?" Dipper must have read the blank look on her face because he added, "Mabel, she could be part demon. If a demon possessed someone—"

Mabel held up a hand. "I don't need a visual from you, Dipper. I get it. But do you really think that's it? That she's half _demon_? And completely ignorant of it?"

"Not necessarily half," Dipper hedged, "and not necessarily completely ignorant. She might know enough to know we're _not_ crazy and to be afraid of what she is and what we might think of her."

Mabel raised her eyebrows but knew better than to argue with Dipper. He would pursue every lead, even the seemingly crazy ones, and that was why he was so good at investigating; he didn't turn his nose up at anything. "If you really think that, this isn't the way to be searching."

Dipper shot her a sideways glance. He waited, knowing she had something more. She smiled, pulled a coin out of her pocket, and tossed it to him. He missed.

When she finally stopped laughing, he showed her the retrieved coin. "Did you take this from her?"

Mabel nodded. "It wasn't one of the ones she got, at least not while I was there. I'm sure she would have said something if she'd noticed me taking it. I was planning on replacing it, and more—"

"Out of my wallet."

Mabel just nodded without stopping. "—but I thought this would be insurance in case of, well, this. I've got her fingerprints on my earring, too, if that helps, and a couple of hairs that I picked off her blanket. Some white, some black, so that could be evidence that she's working with someone else. Or maybe it's leftover from a previous show of hers. I can't remember what you need for the spell. Does shed hair count as something you own, like the coin would?"

"Some spells leave more room for interpretation than others," Dipper said. "I'll try to combine them. That shouldn't blow up in our faces."

"That's what you said last time." Mabel felt it her duty to point that out. _Last time_ had been a spectacular explosion everyone else in the neighbourhood had put down to careless use of fireworks. Most people weren't used to real magic, and Dipper was still learning. Mabel had tried to pick some of it up, too, but she didn't have the head for it. She'd rather save the world with macaroni art and scrapbooking and knitted sweaters, but she'd settle for her grappling hook and a good left hook when need be. Much better than trying to get a spell straight in a language she barely understood. It was easier to bring anything potentially interesting to Dipper's attention immediately.

Which was what she'd done with Dani.

Usually, it worked out a bit better than this had, even when there _were_ explosions.

Dipper rolled his eyes and held out his hand. She dropped the hairs into it and, after a moment, her earring. Just in case.

It might take them a while, but if Dani hadn't left the city yet, they should be able to find her.

* * *

Dani didn't let yesterday's weird experience unnerve her too much. While it was the first time someone had gotten a little too serious about the whole magic thing, it wasn't the first strange behaviour she'd run into and she knew it wouldn't be the last. Even if she happened to see those two again, it would be easy to disappear. It wasn't hard to lose someone in a place this big, even without using her powers.

She was on the other side of Piedmont, maybe even into the next city—it was hard to tell once places grew into each other—and well into another show when a flash of blue sparks caught her eye.

Her ghost sense hadn't gone off, but it hadn't been particularly reliable lately. Maybe a side effect of the Ecto-Dejecto, maybe just her body's way of telling her that she wasn't fully recovered. Either way, she wasn't willing to rule out 'ghost'.

Dani reached up and—from the perspective of everyone else—snatched a coin out of thin air, to a few appreciative _oohs_ and clapping from the small crowd. She smiled as a couple of them tossed some of their own coins into the growing pile at her feet. "Thank you," she said. "Now, what I'm going to show you next can be dangerous in the wrong hands." Including in hers. If a ghost had shown up to try to drag her back to Vlad, she was going to blast it back into the Ghost Zone. "Has anyone ever seen a ghost light?"

Silence. A few confused looks, others not meeting her gaze, and more than one who looked ready to leave. She quickly brought cupped hands up to her mouth and blew on them gently as if she were coaxing fire from sparked tinder. Green sparks flew from her fingers, earning her a gasp from those still watching and—more importantly—drawing the attention of those who hadn't been.

She let an ectoblast build within her hands so that it looked like a small, pulsing green ball of warm light. "They can be difficult to coax into the open," she said, making up her speech as she went. "Usually, if someone glimpses one, it's in the wild, a flickering fey light which is warning of more powerful magic. But sometimes—" and here she made a show of straining and focusing, letting the ectoblast glow a little brighter "—people who know how can wake a little of the magic around them that's gone dormant."

No move from the ghost, if it was a ghost. Dani allowed the ectoblast to flicker away to nothing and bowed to clapping hands and clinking coins.

When she looked up again, she found herself facing Dipper and Mabel.

She jerked back, flicking intangible out of instinct, but they didn't do anything besides stand there while the rest of the crowd wandered away. She found herself running through the various exit points she'd spotted earlier, trying to decide which way was best.

"We're sorry!" Dipper said hurriedly, perhaps reading her expression. "Please don't run. We just want to talk."

Dani crossed her arms. "Why?"

"Because you know real magic," Dipper said quietly.

"And Dipper's still needs some work," Mabel added, much more loudly. She waved at her sweater, which started out green and then looked like it had been splashed with blue paint. "Right, bro-bro?"

Now that Dani really looked at Dipper, his clothes had gotten a similar treatment. It was as if they'd been standing together when someone had hit them with a paint-filled balloon. Nothing was glowing, so she didn't think it was ectoplasm, but maybe that flash of blue—?

"So you, what, found me through some kind of tracking spell?"

She wasn't entirely comforted when they nodded.

"Fine. Let's find somewhere quieter to talk." She gathered up her things—not questioning it when Mabel threw her a ten dollar bill—and led them to a little park hidden between two residential areas not far away. She found herself a nice patch of grass and dropped down, this time not relinquishing her hold on her blanket. She hadn't seen any anti-ghost weapons, but if they reached for something, she should be able to drop into the ground before they had a chance to pull anything out, and then she'd just leave the state to be on the safe side.

She'd seen enough to know not to discount stuff like tracking spells, and she didn't have to deal with Desiree personally to know magic existed outside of illusions.

Mabel and Dipper joined her on the ground, forming a tight circle. "We know that a lot of the things people think aren't real actually are," Dipper said. "I was always interested in that stuff before, but last summer threw us into the deep end. We were visiting our great-uncle and…." He shrugged. "Things got a bit crazy."

Sounded like their great-uncle lived somewhere like Amity Park. Fine. She could accept that explanation. Even if theirs was a different brand of crazy, she'd met enough ghosts that were reflections of things in this world to have an idea of the range that was out there. "Keep talking," was all she said. If they wanted anything out of her, she was going to get their story first.

They skipped stuff, not bothering to hide that fact, but they still talked, so she didn't press. Their talk of demons finally made sense, at least, but if they'd run into ghosts, too— A lot of things lined up, if their so-called demon had just been a ghost. The alternate dimension, monsters, powers, possession, but—

But too much of it didn't.

"You can't just create things in the Ghost Zone," Dani finally said. "It doesn't work like that. Even in a ghost's lair, _they're_ the only ones with that ability."

Mabel and Dipper stared at her, and she realized what she'd said.

They'd never called it the Ghost Zone, but she knew there were different pockets of it that operated on the basic same rules but differed in appearance and ignored some of the finer details of those basic rules. It hadn't seemed like too much of a stretch that this was one of those places in the Ghost Zone, except for the ability ordinary humans had to create things.

"That was in the mindscape," Dipper offered, filling in one of the blanks they'd purposefully left before. "I know I said dimension, but it's not the one our other grunkle was in. It felt like a different dimension, but it was actually just what it sounds like. It has nothing to do with ghosts."

 _Nothing to do with ghosts_ , he said, but it sounded uncomfortably like Nocturne's powers and ghosts of his ilk. There, humans were trapped in their own mindscapes and something could seemingly be created out of nothing, just like in dreams.

But saying any of that would only dig her into a deeper hole.

Dani tried to shrug it off. "You know ghosts are real. The ones that aren't here are in the Ghost Zone. Stuck, usually, unless they can find or create a portal out of it."

"And?" prompted Dipper.

"And what?"

"And why do you know so much about it?"

Mabel cocked her head to one side. "Were you there? Is that where you learned magic?"

If she didn't throw them a bone, they'd just keep picking away at her. "Yes and no. I've been there. Not where I picked up my tricks. Back to your story."

Dipper shook his head. "No, wait. You're not part demon, are you? You're just possessed."

Dani stared at him.

"By a ghost, I mean. Not a demon. I thought it was a demon before. Just…with a partnership where you thought you had the upper hand because it hadn't acted yet. At least not in a way you'd noticed."

"He thought you were being used," elaborated Mabel, "and that the demon was going to turn on you if it hadn't already. Dipper's familiar with being displaced from his body, but maybe with ghosts, you can both stay in the same body?"

Dani was vaguely aware that her mouth had dropped open. They were dead wrong, of course, but…. Going along with it would save her the explanation of her origins. She had no intentions of giving it to a couple of strangers anyway, but she had no illusions about whether or not these two would ask. Pretending to be two different people wasn't hard—she'd had to do it before, and it was practically Danny's life back in Amity Park—and it was still her body, so pretending to share it wasn't going to be difficult, either.

"We stay in the same body," Dani found herself saying slowly, "but only one person is ever in control."

Dipper frowned. "So who are we talking to?"

"Me. Dani."

"But we saw you doing magic."

"I can access her powers," Dani said. "Not as well, but I can still do it if I concentrate hard enough." Not exactly a lie, either. "It kinda means I get to be a human with ghost powers."

Mabel and Dipper shared a look, and then Dipper asked, "How?"

He didn't mean _how_ , of course. As far as he knew, he already knew the answer to that one: possession. He wanted to know _why_. Why agree to such a thing when she'd have to share a body with a ghost? Why would a _ghost_ agree to relinquish control of a living vessel?

"Let's just say that we're helping each other out. She wasn't in a great situation, either, and we're definitely better together, so we're both happy with this arrangement. It works. And fooling people with magic tricks is better than the alternative. Trust me."

Dipper and Mabel exchanged another silent look. This time, Mabel asked, "Can we talk to her?"

Dani frowned. _Talking to her_ would be difficult because they wouldn't be expecting her to change. Not physically, anyway. People who were simply overshadowed looked the same, except—

Dani shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them. Mabel and Dipper started, and she knew her eyes burned green. "You can call me Phantom," she said.

Dipper started muttering something Dani couldn't make out, but after a moment, he stopped and nodded. "You really are a ghost."

She had no idea if she'd just passed a test or failed one, but it didn't matter. "Yeah. Like Dani said. Now are you going to leave us alone so we can live our lives in peace? If you're looking for info on magic, kid, you're talking to the wrong ghost."

She expected Dipper to look at least a _little_ crestfallen, but instead he seemed surprised. "You know everything we talked about?"

Dani rolled her eyes. "Dani and I work as a team." It was _weird_ talking about herself like this. She had no idea how Danny did it for so long. "We wouldn't be good at protecting each other if we didn't know the danger the other was in." Hopefully they'd accept that explanation.

"What are you protecting her from?" Mabel asked.

Dani crossed her arms. "That's her business, not yours."

"But does she have anyone else? Besides you, I mean? If things go south?"

"A cousin."

"But she's still on her own because—?"

Dani blinked and her eyes dimmed back to blue. "I'm not on my own!" she said fiercely. Danny would have her back, and…. She could probably trust Valerie, if it came to it, and Sam and Tucker in a pinch. But none of them were in a position to help her, and she wasn't going to make them feel like she needed it. Danny, especially, would assume she was his responsibility, and another responsibility was the last thing he needed right now.

Yes, if she needed help again, she'd go to him, but she wasn't desperate anymore. She could handle things on her own. Including this.

Whatever this was.

"Your cousin's not old enough to help you, are they?" Dipper asked quietly. "And if your parents are alive, you don't want them in the picture." Dani didn't bother to answer that, so he eventually continued, "Look, I may not know why you're working with a ghost or why she's working with you, but I think I might know something better than you being out on the streets."

Dani just raised her eyebrows and waited.

"Our grunkles, they're…. They've been… _exploring_ together for a while," Dipper said carefully. "I think it would do them good if they had someone to take care of and someone to take care of them."

Dani snorted. "You want me to go be babysat by your family so you can figure out what's up with me?"

Dipper shook his head. "No. If you and Phantom are willing, and if they're willing to take you on, I really think you'll be able to help them."

"They're battling monsters," added Mabel. "Besides, Grunkle Ford might've been to the Ghost Zone at some point. He's been to a lot of different dimensions."

"I'm not going to have any problems with Phantom, if that's what you're implying," Dani said tightly, "and if they wouldn't trust her, there's no way I'd trust them."

"That's not what I mean." Mabel smiled brightly. "Just that if Phantom's ever homesick, Grunkle Ford might be able to talk to her about it. You might've been in the Ghost Zone, but unless Phantom leaves you—and it doesn't sound like she wants to do that—you're not going to be talking to her face to face. And you're definitely not going to be able to scrapbook all your memories. But if you decide to travel with Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford, there'll be all kinds of opportunities to scrapbook your adventures!"

"It might not be safer," Dipper said, "and it might be a little rough at first, but there'll be two more sets of eyes to watch your back."

She'd appreciate that. And, if she travelled with these two, it would help her disappear; Vlad wasn't likely to have very many eyes wherever two humans went to chase after things no one else believed in. And she might learn something.

And it would be nice, to close her eyes and pretend she had two great-uncles who loved her.

But she could still remember how much Vlad's rejection had stung, how it had felt like a physical blow when he'd called her a mistake, and she couldn't— She couldn't afford to get close to anyone. She _had_ to stay on her own.

"I don't know how soon we could get word to them," admitted Dipper, "but I'm sure they could use the help."

Translation: he didn't think they'd reject her or his ridiculous proposal.

And if they didn't? If they accepted her? Her charade about being possessed wasn't likely to last the week—not up against what sounded like a professional con artist and someone who had decades of experience on her when it came to science and the supernatural. What would they think about her when they found out the truth? That she was nothing more than a failed lab experiment?

"No." Dani didn't realize she'd spoken out loud until Dipper and Mabel started trying to change her mind. "I can't." Then, remembering that she was also supposed to be Phantom, " _We_ can't."

She climbed to her feet. She had to get out of here before she did something crazy. Like agree. Or get her hopes up. It's not like the family of two kids she'd met yesterday was suddenly going to drop everything and take her in. Things didn't work like that.

"It's not worth running forever, you know." It was Mabel this time. "You aren't really better off alone. Or just with Phantom, I mean. Because sometimes, if you weren't born into a loving family, you need to find your own." She scrambled to her feet and launched herself at Dani, capturing her in a tight hug. When she released Dani and stepped back, she announced, "We'd make good cousins, but for now, can't we at least try for friends?"

Dani blinked, suddenly finding it hard to see, and realized she was fighting back tears.

These kids hardly knew her, but they wanted to help her. When they'd realize her magic tricks weren't just tricks, they'd been interested, but the moment they'd realized her magic related to her powers, they'd been concerned. For her. Someone who was a complete stranger.

She didn't have to be sold on the fact that demons were real to appreciate what these two had put on the line for her.

Skim over details though they had, they'd told her enough that she would've been able to track them—and their friends—if she'd had reason to. (Vlad, when giving her life lessons, had been unsurprisingly thorough when it came to skills like that.) They'd shown more trust in her than she'd given them. And they'd tried to _help_ her, all because they thought her a kid on her own (more or less) and someone who could use some sort of family figure in her life. They'd even had the decency to frame it so it hadn't sounded like a complete failing on her part.

"Grunkle Ford gave me a number to call in case of emergencies," Dipper put in. "If you're willing to stay, and if you're willing to try this— Dani, this could all be sorted out in less than a week, and you can live with us in the meantime. We can tell our parents you're someone from school who needs a place to crash for a bit. They'll probably be happy enough that I made another friend not to question it _too_ much."

"And I'm great at lying if they do." Mabel flashed another smile. "I mean, they know I'm lying, but they never think it's about anything important. They'll probably assume I just wanted to spend more time with one of my friends. And Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford won't ask too many questions about your past. You'll just need to tell them what you told us, more or less. Grunkle Stan can forge any papers you need if you actually end up going somewhere they're important."

Dani hesitated.

"Please?"

"I'll stick around and meet them," Dani finally allowed, "but I'm not committing to anything yet. It's not like you've run any of this by them, and I'm not sure this is really the smartest move."

Neither of her new friends seemed to care that she was trying to giving herself the option to cut and run. (She'd have that option anyway—wouldn't be the first time she'd just disappeared in the middle of the night—but this was more polite.) Mabel laughed and wrapped her in another hug, and Dipper was grinning now, too. As far as they were concerned, this was a done deal. She could see that on their faces.

She allowed herself a small smile, a small flare of hope. She could use another mentor in her life, and she could certainly stand to learn more of this world.

Because, truth was, if Stan and Ford would have her, she'd go. She knew that. It wouldn't be terribly difficult to leave them behind if she had to, but if she didn't…. She'd gain so much. She couldn't give up that chance.

Besides, it would be nice to travel with someone else. To be connected. To find more friends and family. To become more than the person she currently was.

And pretending she felt otherwise was more illusory than anything else she did.


End file.
